Early results showed Larry Pemberton Jr. of the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation assured of election Tuesday to the House of Representatives, becoming the first publicly recognized member of a Connecticut tribe to win a seat in the General Assembly.
The victory by Pemberton would continue the unbroken streak of Democratic victories in the 139th House District of Ledyard, Montville and Norwich since its creation after the 1990 census.
With about a 2-1 margin of victory at the polls, Pemberton had a lead that could not be overcome by the early-voting ballots that were last to be counted, Democrats said. The majority of those ballots were cast by Democrats.
Pemberton was opposed by Republican Brandon Sabbag of Ledyard and a write-in candidate, Mark Adams of Norwich, in a special election called after the death of Rep. Kevin Ryan of Montville, a Democrat who first won the seat in 1992.
Unofficial results later posted on the secretary of the state’s elections site showed Pemberton carrying all three towns, with 64% of the vote; Sabbag had 28% and Adams, 7%. Turnout was 20%.
With Pemberton’s victory, the House will return to full strength, with Democrats once again holding a 102-49 super majority.
Sabbag’s campaign was hit by the disclosure Monday by The Day of New London that he had a criminal record, with convictions for misdemeanor assault and felony witness tampering in 2018.
Pemberton is a political newcomer, encouraged to run by state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, whose district is home to the state’s two federally recognized tribes, the Mohegans and Mashantucket Pequots.
Until recently, Pemberton was an unaffiliated voter.
He and his wife are the parents of two children. They live in the Uncasville section of Montville, which was named by British colonists for their military ally, the Mohegan sachem Uncas.
There is one issue unresolved by the election: a pending lawsuit by Adams over his exclusion from the ballot.
Adams, the Republican nominee in 2022 and 2024, was endorsed in the special election by the Independent Party and claims the secretary of the state’s office wrongly refused to accept his Independent Party nomination papers over a technicality — a missing signature.
Should he succeed, the remedy could be a new election.
